Siddaramaiah will be the next Chief Minister of Karnataka. Congress has decided to give DK Shivakumar the post of Deputy CM. According to reports, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge has reached a consensus to form the government in Karnataka after a long discussion. The swearing-in ceremony will be held in Bengaluru on Saturday (May 20).

Siddaramaiah to be the next chief minister of Karnataka and DK Shivakumar to take oath as deputy chief minister. Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge arrived at a consensus for Karnataka government formation. The oath ceremony will be held in Bengaluru on 20th May. pic.twitter.com/CJ4K7hWsKM

— ANI (@ANI) May 17, 2023

MLA meeting will be held this evening

A meeting of Congress MLAs has been called today at 7 pm to put a formal stamp on Siddaramaiah's name. After this, Congress leaders will meet the Governor and present their bid to form the government. Earlier, both leaders Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar, who were considered to be the strong contenders for the Chief Minister's post, had met former Congress President Rahul Gandhi separately in Delhi on Wednesday (May 17).

A meeting was also held at Surjewala's house

Later on Wednesday night, Shivakumar met Surjewala at his residence and then Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal and Surjewala held discussions with him at the residence of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. Siddaramaiah went to Venugopal's house at night and interacted with him and Surjewala. Congress has won 135 out of 224 assembly seats in Karnataka. While BJP got 66 and JDS 19. The results in the state came on May 13 (Saturday). Since then, the question has been that who will become the next Chief Minister of Karnataka from Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar.

A secret ballot was held

The Congress Legislature Party (CLP) met in Bengaluru on Sunday evening to elect the CM. By passing a unanimous resolution in this meeting, the party president was given the right to choose the leader of the legislative party. Following this, three party observers, senior leaders Sushil Kumar Shinde, Jitendra Singh and Deepak Babria, who were sent to Bangalore to seek the views of the MLAs, returned to Delhi on Monday. These leaders also conducted a secret poll to know the opinion of the MLAs.